After calling for the recall of more than 2 million Teslas, the Nhtsa (the Federal Highway Traffic Safety Agency) has now opened an investigation in the US to ascertain whether the Austin-based company has actually upgraded its Autopilot or Full Self Driving (FSD) safety standards, as requested by the government agency as recently as last December: Reuters reports. Specifically, the federal transportation safety agency had called for an upgrade of the system that monitors the driver’s attention when the Autopilot or Full Self-Driving system is in use, deeming the warnings issued by the car to be insufficient to ensure that the driver is always in control of the situation. The company agreed to recall the vehicles and remedied the situation with a software update.Several unclear points. According to the feds, the campaign implemented by the manufacturer may not be conclusive. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, in fact, opened the new file concerned by a number of accidents that occurred after the cars affected by the recall were updated via software to resolve the criticalities detected by the agency. But also ‘preliminary test results from Nhtsa on repaired vehicles’ were said to have triggered the investigation. In addition, the federal agency stated that the software update – which increases reminders to pay attention and keep one’s hands on the wheel – initially requires the owner’s consent, but then allows the driver to easily reverse the settings. The agency is also assessing subsequent Autopilot fixes implemented by Tesla to see why they were not included in the recall campaign. The new investigation covers Model Y, X, S, 3 and Cybertruck cars equipped with Autopilot sold in the US, from model year 2012 to 2024.
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